Holiday Haze

So now that the holidays have officially commenced I'm in an adjustment zone.
I've spent holidays away from my family before, but they have always been in familiar settings.
Being in Taiwan for the holidays is promising to be interesting.
I went to Carrefour (foreign wal-mart) today to pick up a few things and was hit by an entire aisle of Christmas (Yes, it leaped out and smacked me). There was music, decorations, fake trees and even a wine selection. It's a bit bizarre to see something like this in an Asian country. I knew I would see it, because I've talked to other people and when I was in Hong Kong right after the holiday there were trees and Christmas decorations all over the place.
The more traditional Asian holidays have their own stores so I don't see the explosion of decorations for those days quite as obviously. Granted I haven't been here during the Chinese New Year yet so I guess I will see.
I was planning to leave the country during the Chinese New Year (at the end of Jan) because I don't really want to deal with the constant firecrackers for what I'm sure will be more than the government sanctioned week. Those plans got the kibosh when the person I was originally going to travel with decided to leave Taiwan permanently (Godspeed Lauren), and the price for going kept getting more outrageous. Chinese New Year is known as super peak season if you are traveling anywhere in Asia. Consequently prices are doubled and tripled and people still have trouble getting where they want to go because everything is booked.
So now I am going to be here for the week off of work. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The friends that I was going to go to Boracay with are also opting to stay in the country and we are thinking of traveling around Taiwan a bit. The only downside is that prices for everything go up during the New Year festivities (hence the not going to Boracay) and it's a little more difficult to travel places because a lot of things close for the holiday.
A new adventure to be had. First to get through Christmas and the Western New Year.

Because Christmas is not a major holiday here we don't get the day off of work. Hess has a policy that foreign teachers can take the day off without having to find subs or having to take a vacation day. I have managed to get Christmas day off and will be spending the day with some friends.
January 1st is a recognized holiday here, which surprised me. Since it is on a Thursday the government is just taking a 4 day weekend. This means we get a 4 day weekend as well. Woohoo! There will be much partying.